Seeing that his squad had built a 26-point lead, Warriors head coach Mark Jackson thought it safe to start his second unit in the fourth quarter.

The lead went to 24, was whittled to 19, and when it finally evaporated to 13, he had seen enough. Jackson publicly admonished his reserves and subbed his starters back in to seal the Dec. 17 victory over New Orleans.

In the next game, the Warriors' bench was outscored 41-13 as the Spurs' C Team won 104-102 at Oracle Arena.

That was the low point in the season for the Warriors' reserves, a grab-bag group that has struggled to find its way until recently. During the team's current five-game winning streak, each of the second-unit players has found a way to contribute.

"The bench is finally responding," Jackson said before preparing for Tuesday's game against the Magic. "Overall, I think they're getting it done on the defensive end, and anything they do offensively is a bonus."

For a while, it looked as though anything they did would be a bonus. After a brutal start to the season, Golden State's bench is still among the league's worst in most statistical categories.

Going into Monday's games, the reserves were tied with Washington's for lowest scoring average (22.4 points) and were second to last in field-goal percentage (39.1 percent, 0.7 percent better than Minnesota). They have, by far, the worst assist-to-turnover ratio (3.8 assists to 5.4 turnovers) and are one of only four benches in the league with more turnovers than assists.

There are, of course, reasons for the futility. Toney Douglas and Harrison Barnes have each missed time because of injuries, Barnes has shuttled back and forth between starting and reserve roles, Kent Bazemore has spent time at both guard spots, and Marreese Speights has changed positions because of an injury to Jermaine O'Neal.

"We're absolutely finding a rhythm together," said reserve forward Draymond Green, the one member of the second unit who can claim season-long consistency. "We haven't really been together much until now, and now we can settle into roles.

"One thing we always knew about the second unit was that we could definitely turn it up defensively. With Harrison becoming the go-to scorer, we're coming together."

When Andre Iguodala returned to the starting lineup, Barnes slumped - averaging only 4.5 points off the bench in his first four games. But he has reached double digits in each of his past three with the second unit.

Speights has scored at least eight points in seven of his past nine games after doing it only three times in his first 23, and he's found a voice on defense as anchor of the second team.

Without the pressure of trying to become a point guard, Bazemore's play is freer and easier. His defensive skills were never more evident than when he darted into position to take a charge and caused the Clippers' Chris Paul to miss a potential game-tying layup on Christmas.

Douglas seems to have recovered from the stress reaction in his left leg that cost him 14 games. He's back to playing maniacal end-to-end defense and spelling point guard Stephen Curry for the short breathers he needs.

Then, there's Green, who always seems to find a way to outdo himself. Already improving almost every stat from his rookie season, the forward is doing more in crunch time, like Sunday when he put up career highs in rebounds and blocked shots and then drilled a three-pointer that helped send the game to overtime.

"If the guy quits today, he's on my (coaching) staff tomorrow," Jackson said of Green. "He's just that good of a basketball player, and more importantly, that good of a person. He's an absolute winner."

The way the bench is finally playing, none of them need to be worrying about their post-playing careers just yet.

Tuesday's game

Who: Warriors (19-13) at Magic (10-20)

Where: Orlando

When: 2 p.m.

TV/Radio: CSNBA/680

Of note: The Warriors have lost eight of their past nine games against Orlando, and the Magic were one of only three Eastern Conference teams (along with Chicago and Milwaukee) to sweep the Warriors last season. ... Nine players on the Orlando roster were born after the franchise played its first preseason game Oct. 13, 1989. ... Shooting guard Arron Afflalo has scored at least 20 points in six straight games and has shot 50 percent or better in five consecutive. ... No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo has averaged 11.5 points on 41.7 percent shooting, 5.5 assists and three rebounds since being moved back into a reserve role Dec. 21. ... The Warriors recalled center Ognjen Kuzmic from Santa Cruz of the D-League on Monday.